Australia's Queen of Crime tells tales for teens and adults

Crime writer Gabrielle Lord, 67, wrote a book every 3 months for her 12-part series Conspiracy 365. Writing crime novels can be punishing, so Lord switches between light thrillers for teens and darker stories for adults. -- FILE PHOTO: SCHOLASTIC ASIA

By Akshita Nanda

Writing crime novels can be punishing, so Australian author Gabrielle Lord switches between light thrillers for teens and darker stories for adults.

"There's a tendency to walk on the dark side in this profession - you know too much about what human beings are capable of," says the 67-year-old in a phone interview.

Last year, she released two books, Malice and Death By Beauty. The first was a sequel to the million-copy-seller Conspiracy 365 series for young adults, and an antidote to the "murkier depths of adulthood" in Death By Beauty, a story of women's obsession with plastic surgery.

Both titles made headlines and hit bestseller lists in Australia - as expected from the writer known as Australia's "Queen Of Crime".